


status pending.

by orphan_account



Category: IT (2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe- Modern TIme, Friends to Lovers, Group Chat Elements, Idiot-icy, M/M, Miscommunication, Slowburn Relationships, idiots to lovers, so much
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-25
Updated: 2019-02-28
Packaged: 2019-11-05 16:56:35
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17922728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Richie stalled for a moment, lowering his phone away from his face and looking up at Stan across the room. His best friend was tossing clothes into his drawers, re-packing up his childhood bedroom after getting home from university.“Hey so,” Richie cleared his throat awkwardly, hands starting to shake. “I don’t know what the fuck is happening.”[or: Richie makes a joke. Eddie responds outside the realm of expectation and now not one person has any fucking idea what's going on at all.]





	1. Chapter 1

Richie Tozier tossed his duffel bag down on Stanley Uris’ front porch and gave a toothy grin. Stan looked up at him from where he was still bringing his own belongings in from his father’s mini van.“ Trashmouth Tozier. I’d almost forgotten what life was like your constant annoyance by my side.”

Richie grinned at him. “I think we both know that’s your way of saying that you missed me but you don’t want anybody to see your softer side.”

Stan rolled his eyes. “I am perfectly fine with people seeing my so-called softer side. It’s just you that I don’t think needs it- you have enough delusions on how much I enjoy your company as it is.”

Richie tossed an arm around Stan’s shoulder and kissed his cheek wetly. “I love you, too, Uris.” Stan gave the smallest hint of a smile and Richie beamed at him. “Good! I already cleared it with Went and Maggie for me to spend the night here.”

“By cleared it with, you actually told them you wouldn’t be back in town until tomorrow afternoon because there’s no way your parents would be okay with you spending your first night back in town after almost a year at my house?” Stan challenged with a smirk.

Richie tapped himself three times on the nose. “You know me very well!”

The two boys brought their belongings inside, and Stan couldn’t help himself from looking at his best friend. He hadn’t seen Richie at Christmas, his family having flown out to California for a vacation during Richie’s break rather him driving back home to cold-ass Derry for the season. He thought his friend might be a little skinner, but he may also have been a little taller, too. He’d grown his hair out since last August, the dark curls grazing at his shoulders now and there was a definite skip in the mans step. It occurred to Stan then, just looking at Richie, that Richie had grown into a man at UCLA. That air of hyperactivity and built up energy seemed to have dimmed to a simple burning charisma. Confidence was around Richie Tozier like a cape, an air of somebody who saw and experienced a true new life across the country.

Stan stopped and tugged on Richie’s arm, pulling him to stop outside Stan’s bedroom.  “Hey, man. You looked good.”

Richie beamed.

They were a few drinks in, leaning against the foot of Stan’s bed while episodes of the Office played un-watched in the background. “I’m serious, dude,” Richie said, his California surfer slang seeming no longer just part of his Voices but now part of his regular vocabulary. “School is the best thing that I ever happened to me, I learned so much just like… in general. About everything.”

Stan nodded, eyes glazed over slightly as he brought his can to his mouth and sipped lightly. He could never keep up with Richie when it came to drinking, and never really tried. He always ended up drunker than his friend, either way, and it seemed Richie Tozier had learned a thing or two about alcohol tolerance while at school. “And you know what I learned… I learned, you know, Eddie, man… he’s got the right idea.”

Stan frowned. “Right idea about what?”

“Boys.” Richie said with a sigh, leaning against the bed frame while Stan choked on his drink slightly. “The first time I hooked up with a guy, my head was like… spinning. It was such a different world out there, like that stuff is totally chill. Nobody ever really questions it, I never even thought about dudes before moving because you know…. chicks, am I right? Besides Eddie, I never really looked at another dude but out there that’s totally just… you know?”

Stan narrowed his eyes, shaking his slightly while trying to sort through all the words Richie had thrown at him just then. “You… You like Eddie?”

“What?” Richie startled, eyes going wide. He opened his mouth, then shut it. “I didn’t…. that wasn’t what I was trying to say. I don’t… I haven’t seen Eddie in almost a year. We talk all the time, just like the rest of you, but we’re not… I guess I told him I like dudes when I was sort of freaking out about it, but that’s….”

Stan raised his eyebrows. “You didn’t say no.”

Richie blanched, looking wildly around the room for something that would help him out the situation his drunken brain couldn’t think through. “I don’t… I don’t know, I never…. Maybe? I guess, I mean…. I might have always had a little bit of crush on him but that’s because he’s Eddie, you know? He’s so fucking cute. That’s all it is. I’m not like… in love with the dude. We aren’t gonna get married.”

Stan giggled, pushing to his feet. “Whatever you say, Rich.”  Richie stared off where Stan was rummaging through his packed boxes and frowned to himself. The dinging of his phone brought a more than welcome distraction. 

** How Do You Get Dick From Richard (8:11pm)  **

**gay eddie k** : honestly!!!! i just!!!! want a bf!!!!

 

**gay eddie k:** somebody boyfriend me!!!

 

**beaverly** : i’d say mood but i already have the worlds best boyfriend!

 

**benny** : i love u beverly

 

**beaverly** : I LOVE YOU BEN

 

**Stan** : Ew. Heteros.

 

**big bill** : stan is heterophobic #confirmed.

 

**big dick rich** : i’ll be your boyfriend eds

 

**magic mike:** omg

 

**gay eddie k:** ok :)

 

**magic mike** : OH MY GOD   

 

Richie stalled for a moment, lowering his phone away from his face and looking up at Stan across the room. His best friend was tossing clothes into his drawers, re-packing up his childhood bedroom after getting home from university. Richie thought it was a little unnecessary to move his things back in, when he would be packing those belongings back up into the same boxes to go back to Georgia State in a few months. When Richie had brought these concerns up to his friends, everybody except Beverly had told him how disgusting and unhealthy it was to live out of suitcases, so he’d decided to leave that detail of his life to himself until returning to Cali in September.

“Hey so,” Richie cleared his throat awkwardly, hands starting to shake. “I don’t know what the fuck is happening.”

Stan turned around, frowning at Richie as the man’s phone began to ding repeatedly. Panicked, Richie tossed the phone to the mattress, prompting Stan to move over and pick it up. Frowning, he slowly handed the phone back to him with an obvious what have you done? look.

 

**PRIVATE MESSAGE FROM BEVERLY MARSH**

 

**PRIVATE MESSAGE FROM BEVERLY MARSH**

 

**PRIVATE MESSAGE FROM BEN HANSCOM**

 

**PRIVATE MESSAGE FROM BEVERLY MARSH**

 

“ahhhhh” Richie shouted, covering his eyes with his faces. “Stan, what the fuck did I just do? What the fuck, what the fuck.”

Stan’s eyes went wide over read over Richie’s messages.

“Did you just ask Eddie to be your boyfriend?”

“I don’t know…”

“Did he seriously say yes?”

“I don’t know!”

“Are you guys _dating_?”

“I DON’T FUCKING KNOW!”


	2. Chapter 2

“Are you nervous?” Stan asked slowly, eyeing Richie cautiously. His best friend had gone through three separate outfits before settling on a surprisingly tame outfit of a stripped maroon and black shirt, tucked into black shorts. Richie had gone with wearing his thick rimmed glasses that day, even going as far as to highlight his water line with eye liner than Stan didn’t even know his best friend owned, and even Stan had to admit he looked good.

Richie had his fingers tugging on a couple of his tighter curls so they would match the way the rest fell more softly, and his eyes went wide. “What? Why would I be nervous? What are you talking about?”

Stan gave Richie a look that implied he was crazy, which was a look that Richie had received a great many times in his life. “Uh, because you asked Eddie out as joke and he said yes and this is the first time you’re going to see him since?”

Richie swallowed audibly, a scratched at his now flushed cheek. “I… Eddie must know that I was just joking. I’ve been jokingly flirting with him since we were kiddos, he’s never taken it seriously before.”

Stan raised his eyebrows. “Where you jokingly flirting with him- or were you flirting with him for real, and he never took it seriously so you just played it off as jokes?”

Richie tossed his little black pencil eyeliner towards Stan and it pegged him in the middle of the forehead. Stan let out an annoyed whine, and rubbed at the quickly reddening spot. “Because I’ve never seen you put so much effort into looking good before, so I’m going to lean towards assuming it’s because you’re at least kind of hoping Eddie was serious about saying yes and you want to look good when you see him.”

“I’ll have you _know,_ Staniel,” Richie said in mock-haughty voice, all while grinning wildly. “That I’ve become the fashion icon I was always meant to be in California. The place has done wonders for me.”

Stan knew at least that much was true, he’d noticed it himself, and decided his best course of action was simply let Richie stew in his own denial. Turning away, Stan didn’t notice Richie’s phone pinging or the pale look of panic that crossed his face when he looked at it.

_Eddie Kaspbrak has himself listened as in a relationship with you! Do you wish to confirm? Mark as Spam._

Richie swallowed roughly, twisting his head over his shoulder and glancing at Stan’s going through his own belongings to find something to wear that day. It was the first day of summer that all the Losers would be back in Derry, which meant it was going to be a lit party without fail. There wasn’t any true reason that they needed to look good, but they all liked to anyway.

Richie turned back around and confirmed Eddie’s relationship request.

**

Eddie looked good, but that wasn’t anything new or surprising to Richie. He’d grown his hair out since moving from Derry- no doubt an argument with his mother when she saw him- and there were now soft curls around his ears. It seemed Eddie had ditched his pastels and khakis when he’d gotten to New York, now rocking some ripped black jeans and a Nirvana T-shirt so oversized Richie had to wonder when Eddie had stolen it from him, matching with an acid washed denim jacket tossed over himself despite the discomfort it must have brought him in the summer heat. He even had a navy green coloured beanie pressed over his curls, one that Richie _knew_ he had kept from his ex-boyfriend, Martin, when they’d broken up around Thanksgiving.

Martin had been a douchebag musician, that everybody had told Eddie wasn’t good enough for him and Eddie hadn’t listened through their entire relationship. He’d cheated on Eddie while he’d been away for school, claiming it to be great inspiration for a song. Eddie seemed to have taken it in great stride, and been more than happy to continued wearing all the clothes he’d brought with him to school that belonged to the scum bag.

“Hi,” Eddie said, beaming up at Richie and seeming a little bit breathless. The smile that came across Eddie’s face made Richie’s heart feel a little tense.

“Did anybody tell you that it’s summer?” Richie asked lightly, reaching out and rubbing at the winter hat on Eddie’s head. “You must be roasting.”

Eddie knocked Richie’s hand away from his hat, and after only a moment of hesitating, he pulled their hands together to their sides and tangled their fingers together. Richie’s gaze dropped down to their hands in surprise, smiling at how small Eddie’s hand looked in his. It was a sight Richie could definitely get used to.

“HEY! Idiots!” Beverly’s voice came out to them, seemingly endlessly amused. Richie startled, moving to pull his hand away from Eddie’s but Eddie’s grip on him tightened and he couldn’t. Eddie tugged on Richie’s hand and they turned to follow the others, walking hand-in-hand. Neither of them saw Mike pulled out his phone and snap a photo of them from behind, but they supposed they couldn’t be surprised.

When Richie connected to the Denbroughs house WiFi, his phone was immediately blowing up. Heart racing, Richie yanked at his phone only to catch Eddie doing the same. Some how it hadn’t occurred to Richie that confirming Eddie’s relationship request would have created a post on their Facebook timelines- and thus, an utter uproar. In just the short hour since Richie had confirmed it, it had racked up a whopping 178 reactions and 26 comments.

**Elizabeth Ripsom: AYYYYY IT’S ABOUT DAMN TIME!!**

**Edward Corcoran: im still trying to decide if this is a best friends thing or a gay thing**

**Martin Campbell: ??????????????????????????????**

Richie couldn’t help smiling slightly at the distress comment from Eddie’s shitty ex, penned out a quick _just because it’s a best friends thing, why should that ever mean it isn’t gay?_ in response to Eddie Corcoran and just as he was about to lock his phone it pinged with another notification.

_Mike Hanlon tagged you in a photo!_ Frowning, Richie clicked it open and found himself staring down at a picture of himself from not even twenty minutes earlier, hand-in-hand with Eddie. Richie had his head turned to the side, grinning widely while Eddie seemed to be mid-sentence. Richie could practically see the heart eyes emoji pasted over his face, and it made him cringe. Mike’s caption was a very simple “we stan” with a heart eyes emoji companying it, and Richie couldn’t help but roll his eyes as he noticed the image had already gotten more than 30 likes in the past minute.

“This is hot gossip for everybody, huh?” Richie forced out a chuckle. He looked around at his friends, who all seemed to be giving him different levels of confused looks while Mike grinned deeply at him.

Eddie let out an excited noise, looking at his own phone. “Oh, Mike! That’s so fucking cute, I love it!”

Richie startled, remembering how much Eddie had protested ever taking photos with Martin. They’d had a few selfies together on Eddie’s phone- that he’d purged over Skype with Richie after the break up- but he’d never allowed them online. He posted pictures _of_ Martin- all also purged- onto his Instagram pretty often, but it was never pictures of them together.

“I’ll give you ten bucks to make that your profile picture, Eddie,” Beverly said, already tossing her backpack onto the Denbrough’s couch.

Eddie laughed, turning his phone screen around to show her the Facebook app. “Jokes on you, I was doing it anyway- but I’ll still take the ten bucks.”

Beverly shrugged, pulling her wallet out. “I’m not even mad.” She said, handing a cheek-looking Eddie the bill. Richie shook his head, confused, and sat onto the arm of the armchair Eddie was sitting in. He leaned over slightly just enough to watch Eddie’s profile load the new profile picture… the picture of them, holding hands.

Eddie tilted his head back and smiled up at Richie. Richie, suddenly feeling unable to control his body, snatched the toque off Eddie’s head and quickly placed it onto his own. Eddie chuckled slightly, rolling his eyes.

“That clashes with your outfit horribly,” Eddie pointed out, stretching out and letting his arm come to rest on Richie’s knee. His fingers rubbed at the bare skin almost absentmindedly, staring up at Richie as though he were some sort of interesting find under a microscope. It made Richie’s skin sting a little bit where Eddie touched him.

“When have I ever cared about my outfit matching?” Richie laughed, dropping his hand on top of Eddie’s. Simply for the purpose to get Eddie to stop moving his damn fingers.

Eddie raised his brow, smiling slightly. He tilted his head to the side, head nearly resting on Richie’s arm and Richie’s breath caught in his throat. “Your outfit seems to match pretty nicely today.”

“That’s _alllll_ for you, darling,” Richie said with a waggle of his brow. Flirting with Eddie was something he could definitely do. Something he was more than good at, something he’d been doing his whole life. He leaned in towards Eddie the way he always would, but froze when Eddie seemed to lean back towards him.

“Are we getting high or not?” Stan cut through him, maybe in a classic Stan fashion, but also maybe because he saw the panic that rushed across Richie’s face. The room still erupted in excited responses, but Richie got caught up in Eddie’s acceptance.

“Really?” He asked, leaning forward to Eddie. His arms moved comfortably around Eddie’s mid-section, letting him slip in behind Eddie and holding Eddie close. “You know you don’t ever have to.”

“I know,” Eddie said, twisting his head to look at Richie. “I got really curious about it at school, but I wanted the first time I tried it to be with you guys.”

Richie couldn’t think of a good response to _that,_ so he settled with squeezing Eddie like a child would hug their stuffed animal for comfort. Eddie tilted his head back in an almost unnatural angle to kiss Richie’s cheek lightly.

Bill made a loud gagging noise, throwing some sort of flannel shirt that was resting at the couch at them. “You two muh-make me sick.”

“Don’t hate us just because you’re not us,” Richie called over, pressing a too loud and too wet kiss to Eddie’s forehead for show. It was the type of thing Richie had always done, but instead of Eddie squawking and pushing Richie away, he let out a small laugh and actually leaned in closer to Richie’s body. Richie wondered if Eddie could feel how his heart was pounding.

**

Richie wasn’t quite sure what possessed him to turn down the bong when it came around to him, but he was beyond thankful for it as he rubbed at Eddie’s back while the poor boy was throwing up into Bill’s bedside garbage. Eddie had brought the whole basket up to rest in his lap, and every Losers had disappeared to sit on the front porch once Eddie had started puking.

Richie had known that last bong was a mistake for Eddie- he shouldn’t have tried to keep up Bev and Stan in terms of smoking, anymore than somebody should try to keep up with Ben in terms of drinking- and Richie had said as much to Eddie. This didn’t feel particularly like a good _I told you so_ moment, so Richie held his tongue and made a point to say it to Eddie later.

He was still rubbing Eddie’s back when the door creaked open and Ben came in. He gave a soft smile and shook his head. “How are we doing?”

Eddie groaned something unintelligently, and Richie patted his back once before standing and walking over towards Ben. Richie let out a tired sight that was beyond his control and Ben held his arms out. Richie fell forward into them, and smiled at how strongly Ben always hugged. Richie supposed that Ben’s hugs were the peak of platonic comfort.

“You’re a good boyfriend, Rich,” Ben said quietly, quietly enough that Richie knew Eddie wouldn’t be able to hear him. “I’m not going to tell anybody, I’ll tell everybody out there just you’re just sitting on your phone looking at memes.”

Richie chuckled, but had to wonder if he could be a good boyfriend, if he wasn’t sure he was a boyfriend at all.


End file.
